Deportation as a death sentence

Chris Gelardi

Slate.com

The Trump administration is deporting thousands of legal immigrants back to countries “they barely know,” said Chris Gelardi. Jimmy Aldaoud, a 41-year-old Michigan man, recently died from untreated diabetes just months after he was deported to Iraq, where he “had no language skills, no luggage from home, no place to live, and no family connections.” Aldaoud, who was severely mentally ill, had never even been to Iraq. He was born in Greece to Iraqi Christian refugees, who brought him to the U.S. as a baby. His mental illness led to homelessness and multiple arrests, giving the Trump administration an excuse to ship him overseas. Such heartlessness is now official U.S. policy. ICE considers about 120,000 immigrants who came here as refugees “deportable” if they have any crime on their record, including selling marijuana and drunk driving. Deportations to Somalia, Cambodia, and Eritrea are soaring, as people who’ve spent decades in the U.S. are sent to countries where crime and political repression are rife. In March, a 30-year-old deportee died in a restaurant bombing in Mogadishu. An Eritrean deportee was so distraught he killed himself en route to his native country. There will be many more Jimmy Aldaouds.